


Friends Among Us

by AutobotNightStrider, Silverwingprime



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Breeding, Consensual Sex, F/M, Imposters have subspecies, Impregnation, M/M, Murder, Murder Mystery, Non-consensual sex, Oviposition, dont post to another site
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:02:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29769024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutobotNightStrider/pseuds/AutobotNightStrider, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverwingprime/pseuds/Silverwingprime
Summary: “You’ve all been with me for many missions on the Skeld. We’ve checked out ruins, we’ve investigated dead planets, we’ve hauled in empty, abandoned ships- we’ve done a lot of things in our day. But, this is the first time we’ve been called to clean out a ruined Colony so they can restart it.”"What Cap’ain is tryin’ ta tell us, ‘s this ‘s big, folks. Right, Cap’n?""Right. This is big for us- for the Skeld as a whole. This puts us into a whole new bracket- a new market so to speak. We’ll be able to take bigger jobs, get better upgrades for the ship. But this isn’t going to be easy. I think it’s safe to say that because we’ve been working together for so long, I trust you all explicitly. I need you all at the top of your game.”----------Should have known better that it wouldn't be that simple.
Relationships: Crewmate/Crewmate (Among Us), Crewmate/Impostor (Among Us)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	1. Voyage Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Strider Notes: The things we do for the people we care for. I am not in the Among Us fandom- Zeta however was more than mildly obsessed, so I helped her and there we went. Ended up basically helping her write and edit a story for it because this is my life XD
> 
> We did finish it though. First fully finished story before posting. Wild, I know.

One by one, they filed into the Navigation deck, clustering around a chair with a green suited man sitting in it.

The man in particular was surrounded by cups holding most likely illegally procured caffeine substitutes, his helmet off as he sucked on a straw. His attention was entirely focused on the world outside of the ultra reinforced screen that let them see outside the Skeld without being vaporized by all of the oddities of space.

No one payed Lime any mind, though. When Lime was on the job, Lime was dedicated to his job.

The last one in, with the toddling red-suited child clinging to his fingers, was the Captain.

Captain let his helmet retract back, adjusting the cap covering the dark swath of salt and peppered hair on his head as keen eyes peered at his crew out from under his glasses.

“Blue,” he addressed first, locking eyes with the dark haired woman where she stood, hair askew, holding a dirty dish cloth to her nose, “why are you leaking body fluids on my navigation deck?”

“Thlipped on a whapper in n’e ki’ch’un.” She replied, tone nasally as she blinked at him, unrepentant.

Purple’s palm met her helmet with an audible slap, but she didn’t say anything to scold her.

Above Blue, her halo bobbed in mocking, cheery brightness.

Debriefings weren’t optional, after all. You came even if you lost a leg, or you hurt yourself. All meetings were mandatory anymore- that’s how it had been since everything had gone to hell out in space. If someone didn’t show up, it was best assumed they were up to no good until a body was found.

He pinched his nose and sighed. “I applaud you for your dedication to the cause, Blue, but I would rather you have alerted White before you had arrived. Irrelevant now. Have White patch you up after.”

“Yessir.” Blue murmured.

White chuckled an ominous noise behind the mask stuck to his suit.

Next to him, Green who had heard that particular laugh one too many times, stepped a half step away.

“Rest assured,” Their ship doctor purred, “all foolish mistakes aside, I’ll take good care of her, Captain. Anything for our best chef.”

“Good.” Weary eyes scoped over his crew again, before he passed the smaller red child off to her parent. “Here, Red. She got lost again. I found her playing with Blue’s cat.”

Red towered over everyone except for White- and he seemed to loom just a little above his Captain for only a moment, a scolding posture for the small red child until she hunkered down, sufficiently rebuked for wandering off. Once she had ducked her head, Red stooped down to heft her up onto his hip.

“C’mon, Rose. You know I’m not mad- but I worry! You could fall or get hurt or something awful.” He tutted softly, patting her helmet. “Thanks for finding her, Cap’n.” He gave him a cheery one handed salute.

“My pleasure.” The Captain replied, tone dry, as he stepped away and made his way past Pink and his twins to take the chair for charting their course.

Obediently, his crew were waiting, watching him intently and giving him time to figure out what he wanted to say.

He didn’t keep them waiting too long.

“You’ve all been with me for many missions on the Skeld. We’ve checked out ruins, we’ve investigated dead planets, we’ve hauled in empty, abandoned ships- we’ve done a lot of things in our day. But, this is the first time we’ve been called to clean out a ruined Colony so they can restart it.” Captain began, fingers steepling. He sighed softly.

“What Cap’ain is tryin’ ta tell us, ‘s this ‘s big, folks.” Chief- in his obnoxiously dirty Cyan armor- was busy cleaning oil stained gloves with a filthy rag. “Right, Cap’n?”

“Right.” Captain straightened. “This is big for us- for the Skeld as a whole. This puts us into a whole new bracket- a new market so to speak. We’ll be able to take bigger jobs, get better upgrades for the ship. But this isn’t going to be easy. I think it’s safe to say that because we’ve been working together for so long, I trust you all explicitly.” His dark eyes flicked briefly to Red, before sliding over the rest of his crew. “I need you all at the top of your game. Blue.”

“Nuh?” She blinked at him.

“Kitchens need to be spotless.” Captain nodded at her. “You need to be careful with your body- you’re no use to us if you’re concussed. We need you to keep everyone fueled and running, even if you have to drag them out for mandatory mealtimes. If we have to survive Orange’s cooking like we did hauling in that freighter, I may just kill you myself.”

“Hey!” Orange protested, the plant atop his helmet bobbing in ‘outrage’. “My cooking isn’t that bad. Only four of us went to medical for food poisoning. That’s less than half the population, thank you very much.”

Universally, there was laughter- because it was true. Orange worked in O2 for a reason, and that reason was specifically because if he did anything other than growing plants for their oxygen and food requirements, then he tended to have butterfingers.

Or turn things toxic.

“Aye aye, Cab’n.” Blue saluted him with all the solemness of someone swearing a holy vow.

Captain gave a quiet chuckle, worrying at the black gloves under his captains uniform. At least Blue, of all of them, was as durable as she was easy going. Something to be said for who she was, he supposed- anyone who could swear at him in two languages and beat him over the head with the glowing ring floating around her noggin was bound to be some kind of strong.

People didn’t smack their commanding officers for spilling spices usually. Blue wasn’t most people- the only thing that Captain knew she feared was something called ‘Abuela’s Chancla’. He didn’t know what it was, but if it scared her, it scared him too.

“Chief, I need you on top of anything that breaks down.” Captain turned his eyes to his best man and gave him a firm dip of his chin. “Can I count on you?”

Chief gave him a jolly nod. “Always, Cap’ain. Ain’t gonna let ya down ‘n th’ mos’ importan’ mission o’ our careers! Momma’d tan my backside ‘f I did!”

Captain had met Chief’s mother exactly once, and he didn’t doubt a word of it. Blackberry was a woman much like the plant she was named for- sweet and supple to those she wanted, but one wrong move and she snared you in thorns that ripped you wide open.

Or rather, she’d shoot you in the ass with buckshot and let you hobble to town.

“Good.” Captain nodded. “Red, you and Chief work together to keep the Skeld up and going. Green, you’re in communications. Keep us in contact with home base, and keep the music going. We don’t know what we’ll find here, but if it’s anything like the other destroyed colonies… We could have to call in a complete eradication unit.” He grimaced.

Green’s heels clicked as she saluted him, a perfect soldier’s stance. “Sir!”

“Pink.” He glanced to their long-mute member of their group, and met his motioning hands with a light wave of his own. He didn’t understand sign, and he never would. “Thanks for acknowledging. Pink- you work in tandem with Purple. Keep our shields up and keep the asteroids off our ship so we can make this flight as smooth as possible.”

Pink gave his answer in a thumbs up as he adjusted his grip on his Vermilion, knowing that between him and Purple working diligently on their surroundings, the ride would be smoother than Blue's finest fresh churn of butter.

At his side, Vermilion- Pink’s son- gripped his sisters hand. Fuchsia whispered quietly to her brother, and together the two had a merry giggle at something none of the adults understood.

The children were primarily ignored by Captain at such meetings, frankly.

“Is this going to be a long flight, Captain?” White cocked his head. “Medical is fully stocked for any situations that may arise.”

“We’ve got rations for a year and a half- more like a year with how Blue feeds us.” Captain cracked a smile at the little round of laughter that he got in return. “We have enough for birthdays too- I know Blue likes to do cakes.”

“Ehspesh’leh fhor th’ kihds!” Blue chimed in.

Rose, Vermilion, and Fuchsia always had interesting birthdays when they fell during long trips.

Captain nodded at her in acknowledgment. “This is going to be a long one though, you guys. We’ve got four months out, four months back, and time for a month of spelunking through the Colony to see if there are survivors, or any clues to stopping this from happening again. You all in?”

Blue raised her bloody rag up, cracking a grin as her nose began to gush again. “Uhuh. Got y’r baghk, Cap’n.”

Following Blue was a round of raised hands and laughter.

“Alright, good.” Captain’s shoulders sagged in relief. “White? Don’t let Blue just run off without you taking a look at her. I’m serious about keeping her on kitchen duty. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t think any of us assholes can cook as good as she can.”

Her shoulders puffed up as she stuffed the rag back to her face. She grinned.

It was pretty common knowledge that if you had a good Chef, you treated them like gold- because you could go weeks without seeing an engineer, or without going to medical, but you couldn’t go weeks without food.

Blue had learned all she knew from her mom and her Abuela- and she’d adapted her own recipes from it. After all, they hardly had any of Earths native foods out in space- she had learned how to use foreign foods and how to make them taste good.

Good food was something they could all unanimously gather around for every night.

“Yes sir.” White stepped closer to Blue, sliding a massive hand around her arm to keep her from scurrying back to her kitchen.

Captain waved his hand dismissively. “Now you assholes get out of here. I’m going back to administration for a bit, but I’ll be around.”

With that, White glanced at Blue, his features unseen behind his goggles. "With that, if you'll come with me, Blue... I will tend to that broken nose of yours." He politely tugged her out of the room, starting the train of departure by the rest of the crew mates around the Captain.

Pink collected his two young ones and made his way out first, with Purple close behind to most likely start a plan. Green walked out with Orange, the latter muttering about how his food 'wasn't that bad', while Green simply laughed and let him get it out of his system.

Red stalked out after a little longer, having been bouncing his little one.

Once it was Chief, Captain, and Lime piloting, the green-hued crewmate put down his drink and turned to face the Captain.

"A speech well spoken, sir." He told him. "I couldn't have said it better myself. I could feel the morale raising with every bout of laughter. A strong team is definitely one you can share a laugh with, wouldn't you say, Chief Mechanic Cyan?"

Chief- one of the few still lingering- waved a hand. “Naw, Chief’s jus’ fine, Lime. Full title jus’ makes me soun’… I unno, too...”

“Poncy?” Captain offered with a wry grin.

Chief paused. “That certainly sounds fancy enough t’ mean what I meant it t’ mean. Le’s go w’ that.” He decided with a nod.

Lime put the ship on Auto-Pilot as he turned around. He looked up at the other crew-mates in Nav with him. He was a slightly rounder man, middle aged though not nearly as old as the two men in the room with him.

"But indeed a title worth it's weight. Just like how Blue is essential for us, you are the very caregiver of the most intimate parts of our ship.” Lime tilted his head. “We wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for you, Chief."

It would forever be an enigma how calm the man was; he had no jitters, no tics, not even a twitchy eyelid from his drinks. And there were many, many numerous drinks scattered around his console. Most of them were long empty.

Chief just grinned. “Well, shucks...”

Chuckling, Lime returned the smile. "I'll make sure to keep my comms open so I can watch the meteors from my end, if there's anything you need or if anything comes up I'll make sure you're the first to know." He glanced at their Captain and gave him a firm nod. "If that's all then, I'd best go start the next pot of coffee while Blue's away." He decided, picking up a small waste bin by his chair and standing to clean up before heading out of the room himself, heading towards cafeteria and leaving the two in Nav.

Chief gave him a cheery salute, a warm grin easy to see as Lime headed out. He called after him with a cheery grin. "I'll see y'all at dinner then. Hopin' Blue makes Meatloaf this time."

Captain shook his head, before standing up and shooing his chief engineer out. Once Chief was on his way, Captain closed his eyes, and took a couple deep breaths into his palms.

Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.

That _thing_ had his back.

_It had his back._

Right...?


	2. No one ever cleans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strider Notes: Updates will be set up for Sunday and Thursdays as of now :)

"Breaking your nose all because of a tissue. You simply must be more careful, Blue." White tutted as he worked on Blue's nose.

He had already confirmed she was not concussed, thankfully, but there still remained the issue of her nose and how that was definitely going to heal wrong if not popped back and braced properly.

"What would your dearest friend Purple have said were she not in the presence of our commander…? I wonder... Would she have called you a fool or something worse in far more inappropriate terms..." He made sure to rub it in as he strapped down a few soft pads with a few pieces of medical tape across her face.

Blue couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling as he continued to rub salt into her metaphorical wounds. She knew slipping on a piece of tissue paper was stupid, but Blue didn’t always watch her feet when she should have.

“Purple probably would have told me exactly what Abuela would tell me.” She replied, the sound of her voice already more clear since he had relocated her nose and cleaned out the clotted blood. Sucking in a breath that was half preparation, half wince at his rough treatment, Blue let her voice raise in pitch. “ _Oh, niña estúpida, ¿qué te dije sobre no cuidar tus pies en la cocina? Esto es como el incidente de la harina de nuevo._ ”

Popping off with Spanish always seemed to throw off their crew. The only one ever brave enough to come into the kitchen when she was ranting in Spanish was usually Purple, and it was mostly because Purple had a straight shot to the weapons room in order to hear every word of her long-winded rants.

Purple and Blue were best friends- and that was the only reason Purple didn’t get the kitchen knife thrown at her for telling her off on her noise levels when Blue was in a snit.

White tilted his head, before a quiet chuckle rose from him. "A stupid girl, indeed... I dare wonder what the 'flour incident' is..." He pondered, "Well... Fortunately the incident will not repeat... at least not today." He declared. "For now, be good, and you will be able to have your nose heal straight. Now, sit still. I am going to give you something to help your body kick start healing. Indeed one of MIRA Company's finest concoctions…"

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She sighed dramatically. “Gimme the juice, Doc, I’ll be a good girl.”

Blue was complacent- right up until he turned his back.

Finest concoctions her ass. Drinking them tasted like drinking jet fuel, and Blue had no desire to go through that for yet another time. Her nose would heal just fine on it’s own damn time.

Blue was many things- but afraid of White’s wrath was not one of them.

Unluckily for White, her bed was right next to his air vent- and Blue was wily.

She was gone before he turned back around to find her, scrambling into the vent and resealing it, the only sign she was there being the lingering glow of her Halo as she disappeared down the vents, heading for Electrical.

“ _Oh Dios mío. ¿Nadie más limpia sus malditas rejillas de ventilación? ¡Paganos!_ ” She swore once she was far enough away from medical not to be immediately heard. She checked her corners, swung a left, and headed right for the closest Electrical vent, bringing with her an armload of vent dust and garbage.

There was a surprised exclamation from the primary occupant of Electrical.

Red looked at her, sputtering and covered in dust, and he hesitated only a moment before he approached and reached out to help her out, as she was nearly too short to jump on her own.

"Blue! What are you doing in the vent?" He asked, voice incredulous. "You realize that the vents are where any imposters like to linger..." Though the warning had no doubt been voiced a thousand times, Red still echoed it as he hooked his hands under her arms to pull her out.

The helping hand was appreciated- she let him pull her the rest of the way up, since like White, Red was an absolute giant of a man, and Blue was the exact opposite of a giant.

Blue rubbed dust off of her face, sniffling sorely, before pointing a finger at him as she dangled from his arms like a child.

“As if any imposters could fucking survive in those vents with how much dust is in there. Clean your _goddamn_ vents, Red.” She huffed. “But also- if you want extra meat with your meal tonight, _you did not fucking see me._ White’s trying to feed me his concoctions, and like hell if I’m biting that bullet again.”

Bribery- the oldest trick in the book. And fully worth it if it meant that Blue did not absolutely have to drink White’s jet fuel again.

It was tempting too- food was always a win with the guys in space.

"You drive a hard bargain..." He stared her down through his one-sided visor but after a moment of consideration, he turned and carefully set her down. "But I didn't see anything."

He turned his large back to her, though his little one still stared at her. There was an uncomfortable moment of silence before she too turned away, holding to her father's leg as he worked on wiring.

“Good guy, best guy, extra meat for you tonight.” Blue promised. “ _Adiós_ , Red, Rosie!” She gave the little girl a wave, before scampering from Electrical like a dusty gremlin, scurrying down the halls, past communications, and shooting straight into Shields.

The sudden presence of his dusty crew-mate had Pink appropriately staring from where he was working on a shield calibration, his hand just barely lifted from the tablet where he was working.

Wordlessly, he tilted his head, while his little ones peered at Blue's body from the crew-mate's legs.

Blue gave him an almost manic grin, lifting her finger to her lips. “White and jet fuel, all you need to know. Extra ration if you keep it quiet- I’ll know if you tell.”

And then she dove for the vent in the corner, yanking it up and wiggling fearlessly inside.

Her halo got trapped outside as she shut the vent, and it clanged sadly against it, unable to turn itself to slide into the vent on it’s own.

“Fuck- can you slide that through to me? It’s dark as fuck in here without my halo.” Blue called up from the darkness of the vent- along with muffled coughing. “Why don’t you fuckers ever dust!?”

Pink was... properly confused, as _anyone_ who dealt with Blue usually was, but he slowly came over to the vent.

He stared at it for a moment, and then knelt down and took hold of the halo. He examined it, realizing perhaps for the first time that the glow wasn’t actually a trick of the lighting, and then carefully slid it halfway into the vent between the grates. He then let it go, surprised as it absolutely _zipped_ out of his fingers.

It hovered in place of it’s own accord, highlighting the bandages on her face as she peered up at him from inside of his vent. She winked at him.

“Thanks a bunch, cutie!” Blue chirped, before disappearing and leaving Pink to puzzle over what had just transpired.

From Shields, Blue scuttled to Navigation. Navigation was one of two rooms with a double vent, and it was the room that she absolutely needed to get to- because it lead to weapons. White would certainly be on the hunt now, but Purple would hide her.

In the middle of crawling out of the vent into Navigation, however, the doors opened.

She made eye contact with Lime, who proceeded to choke on his coffee as she glared at him.

“Is that coffee…?”

“N-no, Ma’am.” He stammered.

“Good.” She scrambled the rest of the way out and replaced the vents. “I didn’t see it, and you didn’t see me.”

Lime gave her a bewildered look, and watched her scuttle for the next vent.

It was little wonder, he mused to himself, that they had once thought Blue was an imposter. Their first flight together had been an utterly chaotic mess, after she had scared the pants off the Captain by pushing a pile of dust into his administrations office while hissing at him from the vents, they _had_ nearly ejected her.

“Yes Ma’am.” Lime replied. “Safe travels, Ma’am.”

She saluted him, and was gone as quick as she came.

She didn’t burst out of the next vent- Purple would probably shoot her if she did. Instead, she knocked on it and waited.

A moment was waited before the vent lifted and a familiar sight greeted Blue.

"Jet fuel?" Purple asked.

Blue blinked up at her best friend, blue eyes meeting lilac as her Halo floated out of the vent, and began to heave herself up and out into the Weapons room. “Jet fuel.” She agreed. “I gave him the run around though. I owe two bribes, scared Lime, and made my way here. I’m not drinking that swill unless Captain orders me to drink it. Hell no.”

"Two bri-..." Purple sighed before she thumped a hand onto Blue's shoulder. "Being the ship cook has sent power to your head..." She teased.

“Food motivates everyone.” Blue didn’t even deny it as she coughed dust out of her lungs and turned to help Purple fix the vent. She brushed off her suit as she straightened up, making a face. “Ugh. I need to clean off before I go anywhere near the kitchen. No one ever fucking cleans their vents- I’m gonna have to go through and clean yours again since I just tracked so much shit into it.”

"What we need to do is poke a hole through the ship that goes right into the vents and just let the vacuum of space suck it all out. If we're lucky, it takes an imposter too with it." Purple joked as she kicked the vent firmly closed and returned to her perch to watch the asteroids that drifted in front of their ship.

“God, wouldn’t that be nice? Not the imposter bit, I’m pretty sure we’re all too weird to be anything but human- but to get rid of all the fucking dust? Yes PLEASE.” She exclaimed. Blue stretched out, and moved to stand behind Purple’s chair, watching out the window with her. “Haven’t heard the cannons going off. Been a quiet day for asteroids?”

"The asteroids have been the size of gravel lately... We are either going through a dead zone or a spot we're another ship has been recently..." She answered.

“I didn’t really stop to look at our path in Nav,” Blue replied, looping her arms around Purple’s shoulders as she hugged the chair from behind, “but I think you could be right about being in the dust of another ship. Not a bad thing though- saves more energy for shields and down in the reactor, and lets us keep our fuel stocks up for if we hit a really fucky area- OW!”

Something sharp struck her in the ass, and Blue jerked upright with a yelp, lurching away from Purple’s chair, hobbling half a step as her leg burned.

Purple spooked, turning her head around to see what the fuck had happened.

Blue hobbled in a circle, and there, sticking out of her suit, was a long white dart with a red feathered tip. On the outside was scribbled ‘MIRA’.

Her eyes followed the hall, across the cafeteria, and to the hall that led to Medical.

White stood in the hall, what was usually his tranquilizer rifle tucked against his shoulder. One hand was on his hip, the other wordlessly shook a finger at her. _No one escapes me,_ the motion said.

Blue flipped him the bird, and then leaned back on the chair and whined while she let the dart dump the ‘MIRA Company's finest concoction’ into her body. “I got jet fueled in the ass, Purple.” She whined petulantly. “White _shot me_ \- from across the fucking ship.”

"Using the long range rifle that I made for him; that bastard has a mean shot..." Purple stared over the back of her chair as White disappeared back into the Med-bay. Shaking her head, she turned away, exhaling a loud breath.

“I curse you for making him that rifle. My _ass_ , Purple. My ass is going to have a _bruise._ ” Blue tugged the dart out once it had emptied, and she thumbed the tiny hole left behind. “I’m also gonna have to get my spare suit out while this one is repaired. No pity for your best friend? The light and sunshine and goofery in your life?”

"I mean of course I pity you, but at the same time it's your own damn fault for venting on him when you could have just sucked down the jet fuel and suffered a bad aftertaste in your mouth at the cost of his satisfaction..." Purple rolled her eyes.

Blue glanced at her over the arm of her chair, and threw the spent dart into her lap. “Would _you_ have willingly slurped down jet fuel if you had an alternative escape route?”

"I wouldn't have biffed it on a napkin in the first place." She countered, picking up the dart and throwing it into the nearby trash ejector.

Blue lifted a hand to tug one of Purple’s curly horns. “No of course not, you would never ever trip on anything, Miss ‘falls out of bed every morning because she still hasn’t learned she’s on the top bunk now’.” Blue heckled in good humor.

"Well, when you are the one to make breakfast, it's easier to sneak out when the rest of the crew is asleep." Purple countered easily. “Speaking of, isn't dinner in an hour?" She mentioned.

Blue paused, and looked at her dusty suit. A brief look of 'shit' crossed her face, before she met Purple's gaze. "It is. I need a quick answer- which is the better idea. Cook in my under suit and risk Captain yelling at me again, or run, shower, change suits, and risk dinner being late?"

Instead of answering either of those, Purple offered her own solution. "I can start the pot if you want to go shower real quick." She offered.

Blue pursed her lips as she stared at her best friends generous offer, and began to strip right there. "I'll just wash off in the kitchen sink." She decided, already half way out of her suit and hopping one legged down the hall towards the cafeteria.

"Holy shit- you're crazy!" But Purple was laughing as she got up to follow her. "Go shower!"

“No!”

“Blue!”

“No!”

“ _Blue!_ ”

“ _¡Atrápame si puedes, perra!_ ”

“You’re hopping on one leg with a broken nose! Not hard to catch, you dusty bitch!”


	3. The Day The Music Died

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strider Notes: And we begin with a bang :)

A few nights later, after another feast by Blue's skillful hands, everyone had gone bed more than content with a full stomach. Their quarters rumbled with the unanimous noises of sleep.

Chief was sawing logs in his double-bunked bed, the man too broad across the barrel to fit in a single bunk without rolling off. Blue and Purple were cuddled up in Blues bed, entwined and snoring away like kittens in a box with Blue’s gray furred tabby curled up on her hip, likewise purring away.

Pink and Red both shared their bunks with their children, but they kept to their separate beds, making little noise compared to the rest. White was still awake, sitting quietly under his bunk with the beak of his plague mask buried in some obscure book. Orange was mumbling into his pillow- something that sounded like a _very_ good dream.

Despite the resounding rumbles of snores, however, it was strangely quiet.

Captain never slept well in general, but he was especially restless when something was off. It didn’t take him long to realize exactly what was wrong.

His radio was silent…

The radio played songs provided by Headquarters, streamed long distance. Science had proven that it was important to the health of the crew that they had some stimulation besides work- music was generally the most easily accessible means.

Blue would bop to Spanish tunes in the kitchen when she cooked, Classical music would stream from Medical any time White was left to his own devices, Chief tended to blare ungodly amounts of country no matter where he worked, and Purple had a tendency to blast alternative metal or rock music any time she was blasting asteroids.

Music was important to the crew- and music usually helped Captain sleep.

The fact that it was oddly silent meant exactly one thing.

Communications was down.

Which meant Green must be in bed…

Captain sighed under his breath, before slowly lifting himself up onto his elbows. He scrubbed a hand over his eyes, before fetching his glasses. He collected his helmet, putting it on and activating his small private light on his helmet as he tip-toed out of the room.

The ship was quiet, and it was dark, as it would be in the dead of 'night hours'. Captain wagered Lime was the only crew mate still left awake in the depths of the Skeld, and that probably had more to do with the coffee in his body. Frankly, he was pretty sure Lime had more coffee than he did blood at this point.

Captain chuckled dryly at that, passing through the cafeteria and down into storage. It was slightly cooler in the storage room- there wasn't much for heating or insulation, which did just fine preserving their extra supplies and fuel.

Idly, Captain ran his hands up and down his arms before stepping out into the hallway.

Navigation would be right up ahead, Comms to his immediate right.

"Green, are you here?" He spoke up just to be sure, a yawn carrying in his voice.

Silence was his answer- which was great, because Captain really knew fuck all about resetting the communications, but Green and Lime both worked their asses off- Green needed sleep sometime.

Worst case scenario, Captain couldn’t fix jack shit, so he would just suffer until morning when Green got her ass up to fix it.

He stepped into the room with a sigh, his flashlights flickering as he yawned again.

Captain stopped as his boot hit something, sending it skittering across the floor with a wet noise.

There shouldn’t be anything wet on the floor in communications.

Green, like Blue, always kept her work space frightfully immaculate. Green kept any spills from drinks or food cleaned up, and she never, ever left anything that could be sticky.

Stomach rising into his throat, Captain jerked his arm out, slamming his fist on the panel to light up the room.

Green's mask, the Jason mask she wore as a testament to her favor to horror movies, was cracked and chipped and torn on the floor before him.

Green was slumped over the communications desk, face down with one arm hanging from it. Over the racing sound of his heart, Captain could hear the sound of something dripping- and his eyes tracked it immediately to where it was coming from her arm.

Blood was running down her suit, staining the green like some macabre Christmas decoration, rolling down to drip from her fingers as well as the table.

His mouth soured with the sickening taste of bile.

Captain knew as soon as he took off his helmet, he would be plagued with the smell of her blood in the air.

He froze, for an unfairly long time he will admit.

What snapped him out of it was a little prrr-chirp, and the weight of a furred body rubbing against his ankle. He glanced down to see Blue’s cat- who should have been up in the quarters.

A problem for another time.

Captain slowly lowered his hand from the power switch, and instead activated the alarm that came in every suit- a 'Report Button' of sorts.

_**[Black has discovered a body.]** _

As he pressed it, an alarm was set off in the suits of everyone else, waking them with loud buzzing.

Around him, the Skeld’s lights flooded to full brightness, burning bright in anticipation of the mass scrambling of people to the cafeteria.

There were no exceptions. Everyone must be accounted for.

All able bodies would gather in the cafeteria, around a single table, and discuss who had died- and what had to be done.

* * *

Blue shuffled out of the kitchen, a tray of hot coffee balanced in her hands as she brought it out to the table, where everyone was sitting quietly, looking shaken.

No one wanted to believe it- but the blood on Captain’s feet was real, as was Green not responding to the call.

She set the tray down, and began passing out cups to everyone, stopping when she realized she had made ten cups like she was used to making.

Her fingers trembled a little as she set Greens mug back down on the tray. Blue sat down, cradling her mug in one hand and running the fingers of her gloves through her hair with the other.

“She’s really gone.” She mumbled softly to Purple.

"I know, Azu... I know..." Purple reached out and picked up the mug that belonged to green, turning it gently in her hand.

It was silly horror movie themed one with some infamous faces on it, with the phrase 'Get in loser, we're going killing'. Green had gotten it on one of their many trips back to earth, a gift from a dear friend. It was beyond gimmicky, but Green had loved the silly dorky thing, and could name every horror movie villain that was placed on the mug, and regale them all with the stories behind each villain.

Purple respectfully put it down in Green's usual space, with the handle facing the inside of the circle.

Once respect had been given to the deceased, Purple slowly sat down and took up her own mug, letting the heat warm her gloves as the uncomfortable silence dragged on.

No one knew what to say- not even Captain, who still felt distracted by the shock of discovering a death of his crew-mate.

However, Captain knew he couldn't afford to be the weakened example for his crew. So instead of continuing to wallow, he took a slow breath, and sighed quietly, "I found Green ten minutes ago at 0300 hours..." He started, finding his voice almost reluctantly. "She was killed in communications... Her throat was slit."

Painful as it was, Captain laid out the cold hard facts of his discovery, and did his best to ignore the way visible faces pales, or hands tightened on their respective mugs.

Green might have been tough from the outside, but she was a soft soul- she was _family._

"Her blood had been dripping for a while, but it hadn't completely coagulated yet. Green was still warm. If I had to guess, that means that she died at some point after dinner." He then looked up at every face, those who mourned for the world to see, and those who hid their pain behind their helmets. "I want everyone to report _exactly_ what they did between Dinner and Lights Out."

Red bounced his daughter gently in his arms, where she was dozing in his suit against her shoulder. He hadn’t let go of Rose since the alarm had sounded, and for good reason. Children were easily lost- keeping his daughter close was important for the same reason Pink kept his twins close.

“I saw Pink offer to help Blue and Purple clean up after dinner,” Red chimed, tone managing to sound tired and drawn, “so I took the twins n’ my little one down to Storage to let them run off some of that after dinner energy. They had a tiff though- you know how kids get.” He shrugged very gently, “So I got wrapped up with White while White bandaged scraped knees and boo-boos.”

“I barely got in to double checking my medical records for the day before Red brought in the little tykes. I didn’t plan to be sorting out an argument over childish things for my evening activities.” White managed to sound both tired and thoroughly done with children while his angled beak glanced between the children in their parents arms.

Rose didn’t seem to notice his glance, but the twins sure did, tucking back into Pink, who cuddled them close to his chest.

One hand gestured loosely, before dropping down as his shoulders slumped.

“Pink was with Mora and I- Purple and I.” Blue corrected. “He helped us do dishes, and then we met back up with Red when we all went to the showers. Red and Pink corralled their kids into the family showers- I heard Red scolding Rose for arguing with Vermilion. I-” Blue’s voice cracked, and her face paled. “ _Oh Dios mío-_ The last I saw of Green was her leaving the showers before Purple and I went in.”

Her eyes welled with tears, and Purple slung an arm over her, hushing her gently as she tucked her into her shoulder.

Politely, the others looked away while Blue gathered herself.

“Lime, Green, and I all walked down the hall together, but she was alive when we left her at communications.” Orange wilted, the plant atop his head following his shoulders. “Lime and I talked a bit before we split to our respective posts.”

“And I’m accounted for. Was with th’ Cap’n all evenin’, fixin’ the mess he made o’ the computers in’ Admin.” Chief sniffed. “Can’t teach n’ old dog new tech.”

Captain nodded quietly in agreement, before he sighed. "No one has any evidence to counter anyone's story?" He asked quietly. "Green showered, returned to comms..." And died…

Slowly, but unanimously, everyone shook their heads.

“Everyone’s accounted for, Captain.” Orange tipped his head. “I mean- is it- is it possible that when the Skeld launched… there was more than just ten of us here? And I mean ten adults- I’m not counting the tykes.”

“What do you mean?” Lime blinked at Orange.

Orange lifted his mug of coffee, and then lifted his helmet off so he could sip at it. “What I mean is… Maybe we have, y’know… One of _them_ living in the vents.”

There was an astonishingly watery snort that sounded horrifically disgusting.

White procured a tissue, and passed it down to Blue.

She took it, blew her nose, and then sent Orange a long look. “You all know my ass has been in and out of those vents dodging doctor doom here since I joined the team. I know every nook and every cranny of them- I’ve never seen any sign of anything else down there besides myself- and I would know. None of you fucking _clean your vents_.”

Captain gave a quiet sound in agreement. "For all it's worth, perhaps Blue's venting habits is for the better. She can vouch for us all that our vents haven't been disturbed. If there was an eleventh presence, the vents would be unsettled." He agreed.

“Other than my own dust trails, I haven’t seen any other prints in there.” Blue rubbed a hand under her red-rimmed eyes, fingers careful as she swiped the tears from her eyes. “So that means… it has to be one of us right? Which means it isn’t safe alone.”

“We can move around in pairs. Use a buddy system and check in through our- fuck. The comms are down.” Orange swore.

Lime tapped his fingers gently on the table. “I don’t want to be the one to say it, but… What if it wasn’t murder? Was it… did Green…?”

White shifted in his seat, but his voice rolled out low across the table. “We won’t know for certain until I can examine the corpse. I’ll need to examine the body properly to determine if the cause of death was suicide or not. From there, we can figure out what to do, once Greens corpse has been processed and put into the morgue.”

"Then staying in pairs is is what we'll do. We'll check in at half hour intervals. Lime, your partner is Orange, Red you're with Pink. Blue keep in contact with Purple; I will report in with Chief and White." Captain decided. "If anyone has any suspicions, you report it to me."

“Yes sir.” Purple’s arms tightened around Blue and she gave a terse nod.

“Good. White,” Captain turned his helmet to look at his chief medical officer, and hesitated only a moment as he palmed his coffee mug, “White, I know you need to sleep tonight, but… Do you think you would help me get Green moved?”

“It would be my pleasure, Captain.” White nodded. “If you’ll assist me in getting the corpse to medical, I’ll have her processed and an answer for you by morning.”

Captain’s shoulders slumped, and he sighed. “Thank you, White. The rest of you- go to bed. Keep an eye on the kids, too. The last thing we need is a dead kid turning up.” He wasn’t sure his heart could take it if he found one of Pink’s twins killed.

Pink nodded firmly and held his children a little tighter, while Red adjusted his little one on his shoulder. Rose didn’t stir, but the twins reached across to hold hands at the mention of dead kids.

"Good. Off to bed, then. White and I will handle Green and... we'll see you all in the morning for breakfast." Captain sighed.

Blue stood up with a soft sniffle, and went to collect the coffee cups.

"Blue. Leave it." Captain shook his head as everyone stood. "We can clean up once everyone has had some sleep. Go."

"Yes, sir."

"Let's give Green some time to enjoy her coffee." Purple spoke gently to soften the order. "No one makes it as good as you do, love…"

Blue choked on her tongue, but managed a mute nod. She linked arms with Purple, and let her best friend lead her away.

Captain watched the two women go, followed closely by the rest of the Crew. Only White remained with him, and Captain paused to reach out and pat the table where Green had always sat during meetings.

His tongue ran across his lips behind his mask, and Captain gave a quiet sigh.

"Captain?" White's head cocked at him like a bird.

"Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep." Captain muttered softly. "I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow, I am the sunlight on ripened grain, I am the gentle autumn rain. When-"

"When you awaken in the morning's hush, I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight." White interrupted, his low voice rolling in a quiet rasp across the table. "I am the soft stars that shine at night."

"Do not stand at my grave and cry;" Captain finished, "I am not there. I did not die." The older man sighed, patted the table, and turned away. "Carry on, Green. Thank you for your service. Let's go, White. We've got a long night ahead of us."

"Of course, Captain. Lead the way."


	4. Soul Food

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strider Notes: For those of you who know the song, it's a damn good song, and it makes me cry listening to it.

Melancholy seemed to fill the ship. Losing Green was rough- even harder when White gave his official report as a suicide. He said that based upon the scrambling of hands through the blood splatter, it was likely she had regretted her actions shortly after committing them, but had been unable to call for help.

In his words, she had died alone and scared, because of a mistake on her part.

Tensions ran high- no one knew why Green would have slit her own throat. No one knew- no one understood. The crew of the Skeld was a family at its core. Years and years in space, having each others back- you became more than friends.

The buddy system was still in place. If you weren't easy to hear, you had to check in or be checked on frequently.

To Blue, it didn't matter what the verdict came out to be. Among them all, Green had been the newest.

Blue had been as she always was- she extended the open hand, used food to loosen tensions and get everyone to warm up to each other.

Which meant that on the Skeld, Blue had been Green's first friend- swiftly followed by Purple, and then Orange. And then, bit by bit, everyone had warmed up to Green, had seen past the tough and abrasive exterior that she had put up, and saw the little golden core that Blue knew all of them had.

Suicide was so _selfish_.

Blue didn't understand why Green would have done it. She didn't understand why- and she didn't understand why Green hadn't come to talk to any of them before hand. Blue and Green hadn't been best friends, not by any means, but you didn't have to be best friends to come to someone with a problem.

So Blue coped with her mounting feelings in the only way she knew how.

Stress baking and cleaning.

With an internal reminder set on her suit for when to check and see if the brownies had cooked enough or if they needed to be put back in for longer, Blue had let both Purple and Lime know she was going into the vents to do some cleaning, and that if they heard noises, it was her bumping around.

Purple understood her need. Purple had been shooting more and more asteroids that weren't actually a threat to vent her own feelings.

Lime didn't quite emote the same way. So, he slipped her his lucky knife, and wished her well in cleaning the vents.

Usually, Blue played music when she cleaned. However, with Green gone... no one knew how to fix the communications. With no music coming from her radio, Blue had one option.

Making her own.

" _Recuérdame. Aunque tenga que decir adiós._ " The sound of her singing echoed in the vents, a quiet, meloncholy tune that wafted from one end to the other, vibrating across metal as dust was swept up with a damp cloth and shoved into a disposal bag.

Blue didn't exactly keep herself quiet. If anyone heard her, then she didn't have to report where she was, after all.

" _Recuérdame,_ ” She sang, Spanish flowing freely from her mouth as the toiled away her pain, “ _No dejes que te haga llorar, que incluso si estoy lejos, te tengo en mi corazón. Canto una canción secreta para ti cada noche que estamos separados._ ”

Digging through the dust made for a great distraction- but it wasn't long before a presence made itself known.

In the form of a small pink body curled up along the wall of the vent.

She stilled, spotting one of Pinks kids sitting, hunkered down in the vent like he was trying to hide.

Her singing cut off abruptly too, ending in a low cough as she crawled her way over to them.

"Kiddo?" She asked, voice soft and gentle. "Kiddo? What are you doing in here? Your dad is gonna have a fit if he finds out you're down here."

The child spooked when she spoke up to them and they turned to look at her before making a quiet sound not that far off of hiccuping, before it turned to a rattling hiss.

It wasn’t one of the most unsettling noises she had heard them make- the twins spoke to each other in their own language, and had been making a game of teaching Red’s daughter how to speak it too.

The noise was cute, kind of- but definitely unsettling to hear it directed at her when she had no idea what it meant.

Blue sighed through her teeth, and clicked the lid on her helmet back, revealing her face. The glow of her halo illuminated her, revealing the little smile she had across her freckled face.

“Hey- hey, it’s alright, kiddo. You know I don’t speak your little twin-language, but you know I’m not gonna hurt you. C’mere.” Blue made a soothing sound in her throat as she held out one blue gloved hand to the kid. “Lets go find your dad, okay? N’ then we can go to the kitchen for something yummy, n’ you can tell me all about what’s got you hiding down here.”

The hissing slowly quieted and the little pink-suited child slowly crawled closer until they curled up in her arms.

This close, she could tell which one she had. Vermilion was hiding again- likely teased by both girls over something silly. Blue felt sorry for him, being the only boy in a group full of girls. It had to be horrible- girls could be mean, especially when one of them was your sister.

She hefted the boy up, patting his helmet gently as she rolled him over so he rested on her back. “Hold on now, kiddo. Think spider-monkey.” She encouraged, before beginning to crawl the long way down the vent that would take her towards Shields.

Obediently, Vermilion held onto her, but his pink head lifted as he heard the vent bending under the weight of another and he shrank a little as it grew closer, _fast_.

Pink appeared around the bend, his speed revealing how he was very much used to traveling in vents. He was radiating a low growl- until he caught a glimpse of Blue and he stopped fast in realization that there was someone there.

Blue, likewise, came to a halt as Pink barreled around the corner, gripping the sides of the vent without ever touching the bottom. She didn’t want to know what sort of feats of muscle strength it took to do that- but what really shocked her was the fact that the visor on his helmet was up.

Select few members of their ship didn't’ take off their helmets, and consumed their meals with specialized methods. Some did it out of duty for the rules- some did it because they were, she suspected, shy about how they looked. Mutations could present themselves in innumerably odd ways- and discrimination was rampant.

However, there was a difference between a mutation and what she saw.

In the glow of her Halo, through the clear glass of his helmet, his sharp teeth were bared at her. His pupils reflected light back at her in ways human eyes did not, and the bright gold eyes were rimmed in black sclera. His skin looked _wrong_.

Pink was not human.

“Oh.” Blue murmured softly. “Hi there, Pink.”

His eyes widened a little more as his lips fell back over his teeth. He eyed her for a moment as he slowly touched back down on the bottom of the vent. He stared at her, and then glanced over her shoulder as he caught movement and saw one of his children wave at him.

He soundlessly began to approach, his gaze staying on his child.

It was purely on reflex that her hand shot up to grab her Halo. It was whipped down, in as sure of an arc as her Abuela had wielded her chancla, and Blue whapped him in the helmet with the sturdy glowing metal.

Pink's helmet had hit the floor and a low groan rose from him as he gripped his head to stop the ringing that came with that sharp strike. She had bounced his head off the metal like it was a pebble on a lake. _What a swing_ _that woman had_.

She leered at him, leaning back a bit to keep his son out of range- protecting the younger one from the older one.

“Human or not, I will ring your fuckin’ bell again if you start anything.” She warned him. “Now, you’ve been with us for a good couple years, Pink, and you ain’t killed a soul. I don’t think you wanna start now. Your son’s upset about somethin’, so rein it in, will you? I was gonna go bring him to you so we could go have brownies in the kitchen, but I can’t do that if we’re gonna have a squabble in the vents.”

He slowly recovered and sat back on his knees, slouched over due to the cramped space. He still manage to look up at her again, golden eyes dimmed just slightly, but he wasn't going to lash out at her for that swing.

Pink had realized that he’d had it coming.

When he didn’t lash out at her, Blue let go of her halo and let it pop back up above her head.

She gave a firm nod, and then cracked a little smile. “Good, now that we’re clear… C’mon. I’ll get you an ice pack for your head, and you and I can talk in the kitchen.” She paused, and then began to sign with one hand. _I’ve been learning since you came to work with us. Captain might not give a damn to learn, but I did._

Seeing her sign properly surprised him and his eyes widened a little as his mouth fell open. He mouthed a few words as he read her hand, before he smiled and brought his fingers to his lips before bringing them downward again. _T_ _hank you._

Blue smiled at him. _Purple knows too. I’m sorry we didn’t get the chance to tell you sooner. We were going to surprise you with it on your birthday- all of us. Green too._ Her smile fell a little bit, and she sighed, dropping her hand. “Want to come with me to the kitchens, Pink? We can talk there. It was only us three who learned it, and we’re down to two, now...”

His smile weakened as Green was mentioned but he nodded to answer her as he started closer, slower this time, with the intent to follow her.

Clearly, his intent was shown, because she didn’t ring his bell again. Instead, Blue flipped around and led all three of them back out to the vent she had entered through.

Lime paid them no mind as they left, and Blue guided them up through the halls and through Weapons into her cafeteria.

It was empty and clean- all except for Greens mug, which they cleaned and placed back on the table, so she could be with them all in spirit.

“Ah,” Blue startled as her suit buzzed, throwing back an arm to brace the child riding piggyback. “Looks like the timers up. C’mon- lets go see if the brownies are out. They’re best served steaming hot with a little drizzle of milk over them, don’t you know?” She hummed, leading the way into her kitchen with the definitely not-human at her heels.

Pink _didn't_ know. He stayed close to Blue, though, letting her lead the way to the Kitchen so he could learn what she was talking about... he, admittedly, was just a little curious…

Though he had realized something and he reached out to grip her shoulder to get her attention.

Once she turned to know why he had grabbed her, he gestured back towards Navigation before he signed 'L-I-M-E' with a slight panic.

She rolled her eyes at his panic, and pointed at herself, before making the universal symbol for ‘crazy’. “Lime is used to me going in and out of the vents- you remember the fiasco when everyone thought I was an imposter? Not too far off for me to have dragged others into my cleaning shenanigans. We’ll just say I nagged you into helping me. Heavens knows I’ve done it to Purple before, and I made Captain help me clean the vent between cafeteria and administrations.”

Pink realized exactly what she meant as he recalled the incident that had nearly gotten the cook thrown out of the airlock. He also knew what she meant by making others help- Purple hadn’t grumbled about it, but Captain had ‘bitched and moaned’, as Purple put it, for weeks about being made to clean his side of the air vents.

Slowly, Pink withdrew his hand to return it to his side, giving her the signal that he understood.

She raised her own, lifting it up to pat him on the shoulder- or as high up as she could reach. “I’ve got your back, Pink.” She promised, a little quirky smile lifting at the corner of her mouth. “My people used to be called Aliens too, once upon a time. Things change- ya’ll won’t be called imposters forever, I wager.”

Over her shoulder, Vermilion gave an affirmative chirp, tightening his arms lightly around her neck as Blue grabbed at Pink’s wrist and tugged them all inside.

The kitchen smelled heavily of brownies, thick with cinnamon and vanilla. Blue squirmed a bit, patting the child’s thigh as she crouched down, motioning for them to hop down and take one of the stools so she could go get the brownies out.

While she did that, the young boy went and grabbed his fathers hand, tugging his fingers lightly as he moved them over to a booth. Silently, the young one signed, _I like Blue. Blue is nice_.

 _We cannot get close to Blue._ Pink signed back quietly as he sat down, lifting his son into his lap, _She is human... Alpha’_ _s orders say_ _we must kill the humans._

 _Must we though? Alpha has a human. Can’t you keep a human too? This one is nice and feeds me nice treats. She would be a good human to keep._ The young one signed back obstinately, chittering a little noise in his suit.

Blue kept her back to them as she pulled out the pan of brownies, unloading them carefully onto the cooling tray. After testing them to see how done they were, she worked on getting a couple sliced and put into a bowl where she could sprinkle some milk on them- it was milk made from powdered solution, but it still tasted damn near as good as the stuff from the cow.

Idly, Blue hummed a little tune, bobbing her head. Her halo followed the beat, bouncing in time as she rocked on her toes.

Vermilion made a tiny noise. It was, perhaps, a little pleading noise. _Mother was not a good human, Father, but this one is nice. Can we not keep just one?_

After a moment, Pink's torso slouched in surrender. _Very well..._ He signed. _Alpha will allow_ _us a_ _Breeder._ _Perhaps he w_ _ill forgive_ _us_ _and allow us to keep_ _her_ _…_

The boy gave an affirmative chirp, pleased by that development. But, before he could reply, Blue was turning to look at them.

“Looks like whatever was bothering you has been figured out.” She smiled at the boy, before offering him a bowl with a brownie and milk. “Treats for you, young man. And for your Papa too.” Pink’s bowl was held out to him with a tender smile too. “C’mon. Chin up, Pink. The world isn’t over because I know- I’m not gonna tell anyone, scouts honor.”

He stared at the bowl for a moment before extending his arms and taking it, bringing it close to examine the brownie through the screen of his helmet.

It looked good, as seen as he licked the corner of his mouth just slightly. But eating it would require taking off his helmet.

He looked unsure.

His son had no such qualms. Vermilion looked as human as Blue did as he yanked his helmet off to start cheerfully shoveling the brownie and milk into his mouth, pleased chirps and clicks escaping his full mouth as he devoured it bite by bite.

He looked a lot like his dad- bright gold eyes, pale skin. His teeth were human flat though, his ears round, and sclera white. His hair was a cinnabar color, mixed from whoever his mother had been.

Blue laughed, and ruffled the boy’s orange-red hair. “Your papa is kinda shy, isn’t he?” She hummed to him, before getting up to get herself a brownie too. “I’m not gonna _bite_ , Pink. And I won’t hit you with my chancla again either- er, my halo.” She corrected. “You want to eat it before it gets cold- it’s best fresh with milk, and I don’t make them often.”

It smelled really good. His mouth was watering at the aroma that was wafting up from the little bowl in his hands.

Pink nodded and slowly reached up to his helmet. He gripped either side and twisted to unlock it before he began to lift it-

"Pink!"


End file.
